Leyton Orient 1-4 Sheffield United
Melligan 38 Halford 59, 78,
Sharp 62, Naughton 69
The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON
Third Round Proper
7.45pm, Tuesday 13 January 2009
Brisbane Road
Winning clubs will receive £75,000 from The FA
Click here for all the Third Round Results
A dominant second half performance saw Sheffield United come from a goal down against Leyton Orient to book their place in the Fourth Round of The FA Cup.
Orient took the lead just before half-time through a JJ Melligan penalty, but the Blades orchestrated a fine comeback after the interval to set up a tie with fellow-Championship side Charlton Athletic on 24 January.
In the 59th minute, Greg Halford hooked the ball home from a David Cotterill corner, before Billy Sharp gave United the lead with a calm finish under pressure.
Kyle Naughton scored the third on the counter-attack and Halford got his second of the night heading home a cross from United debutant Kyle Walker.
The visitors came into the game unbeaten in six matches, whilst Orient hadn’t registered a victory since their FA Cup Second Round victory over Bradford City in November. However, in the first half, United were unable to justify the gap of 41 league positions between the sides.
After a scrappy opening 15 minutes, it was the visitors who began to enjoy the majority of possession, but were unable to turn their superiority into chances and headers from Darius Henderson and Chris Morgan were two of only three real opportunities they had in the opening 45.
Orient forward, Adam Boyd had the first half-chance of the match after nine minutes, latching on to a cross from Andrew Cave-Brown, but was unable to bring the ball under control and Sun Jihai was able to avert the danger.
Soon after, Sun Jihai almost went from saviour to creator as he fed Billy Sharp on the left hand side of the Orient box. Sharp turned smartly to lay the ball off to Halford, but his low left foot shot was straight at Glenn Morris and he made a routine save.
Just before the half-hour mark, Orient appeals for a penalty were dismissed by referee, Ian Williamson, as Chris Morgan and Sam Parkin had a coming-together in pursuit of another Cave-Brown centre.
However, with half-time approaching, Williamson did point to the spot as Matthew Kilgannon was adjudged to have handled a Sean Thornton shot from the edge of the box. Melligan stepped up, sent Bennett the wrong way and calmly side-footed the ball into the bottom right-hand corner to give the home side the lead.
Orient then proceeded to end the half the stronger of the two sides, creating three or four intricate one and two-pass moves that had United’s players chasing shadows.
However, Kevin Blackwell had the chance to regroup his charges at half-time and it worked wonders as United sought a path back into this Cup tie straight from the restart. Sun Jihai demonstrated their intent, unleashing a 25-yard drive which sailed over Morris' bar.
David Cotterill was beginning to see a lot more of the ball on the right hand side of midfield and it was a Cotterill corner on 54 minutes that led to the equaliser. His centre wasn’t properly cleared by the Orient defence and fell to Halford ten yards out. He hooked the bouncing ball over his shoulder and beyond the despairing lunge of Morris to level the tie.
Buoyed by their equaliser, Sheffield United broke away down the right once more and Henderson played Billy Sharp through on goal. With Bennett rushing off his line to narrow the angle, Sharp coolly slotted the ball underneath the ‘keeper to give the Blades a quick-fire lead. Barely three minutes later, the visitors made it 3-1.
Earning a corner, Orient packed the Blades box in search of the leveller however, Naughton picked up a loose ball and broke at speed into the Orient half.
He played in the increasingly influential Cotterill who bore down on Morris' goal. His effort was very well parried by the O’s stopper, but it allowed the winger a second opportunity. This time he chose to centre the ball to Henderson, but his saved effort fell to Naughton who had continued his run into the box.
Naughton's first effort was well blocked by Tamika Mkandawire, but the England Under-21 international was presented with the easiest of tasks to extend the visitors lead with a tap-in.
Orient appeared to have lost all of their first-half panache and resorted to long range efforts, Boyd going closest on 64 minutes.
Halford scored his second of the night to seal the tie, rising high at the far post to head home Walker’s deep cross.
Despite the rather heavy defeat, Orient fans will go away from tonight’s match knowing they can mix it with teams from the Championship, at least for 45 minutes.
Halford should have sealed his hat-trick in injury time when he was found by Naughton on the edge of the box, but his low effort was tipped round the post by Bennett. It mattered not however, and it is the Blades who extend their unbeaten run and in doing so, progress to the next round.
Teams
Leyton Orient
1 Glenn Morris, 2 Stephen Purches (C), 5 Tamika Mkandawire, 6 Brian Saah, 7 JJ Melligan, 8 Adam Chambers, 10 Sean Thornton, 16 Andrew Cave-Brown, 18 Adam Boyd, 20 Jason Demetriou, 27 Sam Parkin
Subs not used 4 Alton Thelwell, 11 Dean Morgan, 12 Jamie Jones (GK), 17 Paul Terry, 21 Loick Pires, 23 Ryan Jarvis, 24 Harry Baker
Sheffield United
13 Ian Bennett, 2 Greg Halford, 4 David Cotterill, 5 Chris Morgan (C), 6 Matthew Kilgannon, 7 Darius Henderson (11 Lee Hendrie, 86), 12 Sun Jihai, 17 Nick Montgomery, 24 Billy Sharp, 30 Kyle Naughton, 34 Kyle Walker
Subs not used 1 Paddy Kenny (GK), 3 Gary Naysmith, 10 Danny Webber, 19 Keith Gillespie, 20 Brian Howard, 28 Stephen Quinn
Match Officials
Referee Ian Williamson
Assistants Michael George and Paul Barnes
Fourth Official Nick Kinseley
Attendance 4,527